VIBRATION DIAGNOSTICS AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR TESTING ENGINES OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION

There are several methods of automotive diagnostics used in services to detect a large variety of faults and damages of various parts of engines of internal combustion. Undoubtedly, they are effective, but they are simply unable to find all types of mechanical faults occurring during the operation. This is the reason why authors of this paper tried to use a special tool, which has been proven for years for detecting faults of rolling element bearing in rotating machinery. During their research, the authors tried to find valuable results by measuring vibration of various parts of engines. Three items were tested, a Diesel engine and two Otto motors. A large number of measurements have been taken at various speed, at different points, in different directions, with different parameter setup, etc. However, there was one setup which has been applied to all three engines. It is the measurement setup of vibration velocity, in the frequency range of 2 Hz-300 Hz. Valuable consequences have been found regarding the clogging of the air filters and the exhaust systems. As a conclusion the authors expressed their opinion, that, apart from the traditional diagnostic methods used in services, vibration measurements can also be useful, especially for detecting faults of rolling element bearings.